


Hidden Scars

by aceofwhump



Category: NCIS
Genre: Emotional Hurt, First Aid, Gen, Hidden Scars, Hurt Tony DiNozzo, Past Torture, Scar reveal, Tony DiNozzo & Jethro Gibbs Father-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 05:41:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17401073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofwhump/pseuds/aceofwhump
Summary: An injury leads to Ziva and McGee learning more about their team mate and friend. Written for my Bad Things Happen Bingo card on Tumblr.





	Hidden Scars

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of the fics I wrote for my Bad Things Happen Bingo card over on tumblr. I thought I 'd share it here. Tony DiNozzo was the character and Hidden Scar was the trope requested.
> 
> I'm brand new at this whole writing thing so please be kind! This is also the first thing I've posted here on ao3 and I'm still getting a feel of the tagging and rating system. I may add tags later as I think of them. If anyone thinks of a tag I should add just let me know! Happy to tag anything that is appropriate. 
> 
> Originally posted on tumblr at https://aceofwhump.tumblr.com for tumblr user @hurtcomfortetc
> 
> Enjoy!

“Ducky, I’m fine! Honest! It’s just a graze,” Tony protested as he was practically dragged into autopsy by the ME. The elevator door closed behind him and Gibbs as Ducky led him into the autopsy lab.

“I can tell just from a glance that the “graze” is going to need stitches. Since you refuse to go to the hospital, I insist you let me fix that here.” Ducky guided him into the lab with a gentle grip on his bicep and a firm hand on his back lest he try to weasel out of medical attention. Tony kept his hand firmly pressed against the bleeding gash on his ribs.

Ducky gestured for Tony to sit on the examination table and told him to keep pressure on the wound as he gathered his needed supplies from the cabinet. Tony briefly considered escaping and finding a space to deal with his injuries alone like he preferred but a loud authoritative voice froze him in his tracks.

“Don’t even think about it DiNozzo.”

Tony wiped around and came face to face with Gibbs, “Boss! Uhh. Think about what?”

Gibbs approached him and pointed at the examination table, “Sit. You either let Ducky fix you up here or I’m dragging you to the hospital myself.”

“Right. Sorry Boss,” Tony said dejectedly and hopped up on the table.

“Now let’s take a closer look shall we?” Ducky made his way over to Tony and gently lifted the hem of his blood soaked shirt. His shirt hem was completely covered in blood and was beginning to stain his pants as well. The bandage Tony held over the wound was soaked through. “Right, let’s get your shirt off so I can stitch this up.”

Tony, with a little bit of help from Ducky, lifted the shirt over his head and bundled it up next to him.

Taking a closer look at the wound, Ducky was astounded Tony wasn’t showing more pain. The laceration was jagged and raced across his ribcage. Blood covered Tony’s left side and dripped onto the table. The bleeding had slowed down some but not completely. He had to be in a great deal of pain.

“How exactly did this happen?” Ducky asked. Tony winced as Ducky gently probed the wound to determine if there were any broken ribs or any further complications.

“I got in the way of a knife,” Tony answered.

“I could use a few more details than that,” Ducky said as he readied his first aid supplies.

“I was chasing down our suspect. I got him cornered when he pulled out a knife. He managed to get a swipe in before I got him down. It’s not as bad as it looks, really. Hardly hur-OW!” Tony glared at Ducky as he poured some antiseptic over the wound and began cleaning the blood away and debriding the wound.

“And where may I ask where were Timothy and Ziva while you were chasing down an armed criminal?”

“Good question Duck. That’s something I’ve been wondering as well.” Gibbs had been solely focused on getting his senior field agent medical attention since the moment he walked into the bullpen bleeding with a sheepish looking Ziva and Tim holding onto their suspect behind him. Gibbs had sent the pair to deal with the suspect while he called Ducky to tell them he’d be bringing Tony down to autopsy.

“Not their fault Boss. McGee and Ziva were checking out another area of the building when I spotted the guy. I took off after him without thinking about calling them.”

Gibbs just glared, not satisfied with the explanation.

“Right well, I’ll just numb there area and then we can get started,” Ducky said as he pulled a chair up next Tony.

Ducky was almost done stitching up Tony’s side when the elevator dinged and both Ziva and McGee stumbled out.

Before either one of them could say anything, Gibbs barked out a question, “You take care of the suspect?”

“Yes Gibbs. He is currently waiting in Interrogation Room 1,” Ziva replied as she and McGee got closer to the examination table. Tony had his back to them and instead of addressing the two agents, kept his attention on the needle threading through his broken skin.

“He say anything?” Gibbs asked.

“Nothing of note. He was too busy... ahh….” Ziva trailed off when she glanced over at Tony’s back. McGee stood frozen next to her, as shocked as she was by the sight in front of them.

Scars of various shapes, lengths, and sizes littered Tony’s back and arms. Old bullet wounds and knife wounds they could recognize. Some they even knew the story behind like the small jagged scar that ran across his bicep from the time she and Tony were trapped in that shipping container and he was hit during the ensuing gunfight. But those long, thin ones that criss crossed over his back. Those weren’t done by a bullet or a knife. No. Ziva had seen those type of scars before. Those kind of scars were usually the result of being whipped. She never imagined she’d see them on her partner. How on earth did he get those?

Tony’s head turned slightly towards them, as though he could feel their eyes on him, and he visibly tensed up. He spoke quietly to Ducky but Ziva couldn’t hear what was said. Ducky nodded and began to cover the stitches with a bandage.

Gibbs broke Ziva out of her trance with a harsh bark, “Ziva! Too busy doing what.”

Ziva pulled her gaze away from Tony to face her boss, “Huh? Oh. He was too busy shouting about his right to remain silent to answer any of our questions.” Gibbs hummed in response and turned his attention to McGee who was still staring at Tony’s back.

Before Gibbs could head slap him back to reality, Tony stood up abruptly, said a quick but sincere “Thanks for the help, Duck,” put his shirt on, and all but ran back to the elevator and disappeared behind its doors.

Gibbs watched his senior field agent run from the eyes of his coworkers and felt anger rising in him. He turned back to McGee and head slapped harder than necessary.

“Ouch! What was that for?” McGee exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head

“For being an idiot. You too David. You think Tony didn’t notice you both gawking at him like he was on display?”

“Sorry, Boss.” McGee said thoroughly chastised.

“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to DiNozzo”

“Gibbs,” Ziva interrupted. “Those scars on his back. Do you know how-”

“Don’t.” Gibbs raised a hand to silence that line of questioning immediately.

Ducky, as he put all of his supplies away in the cabinet, turned and faced Ziva and McGee, “It’s not our story to tell Miss David.”

“But you do know, don’t you?”

“Yes Timothy, we know. As does Abigail. But if you want to know, you’ll have to ask him yourself. Anthony would not be too please to hear that we’ve blabbed his secrets without his permission.”

“But Ducky you know he wouldn’t tell us anything,” McGee protested.

“And can you blame him? It was years before he was comfortable with us to tell Jethro and I what happened and even then he wasn’t exactly himself when he did.”

“What do you mean?” McGee asked.

“He was high on painkillers. Didn’t even realize he said anything until the next day,” Gibbs spoke, interrupting whatever Ducky would have said in response. “I’m going to go check in on him. Both of you get yourselves together. Tony doesn’t need you walking on eggshells around him and for the love of god don’t bring this up around him. If he wants to talk about it, he’ll come to you. And don’t forget, we have an investigation to finish.” Gibbs had apparently decided the conversation was over because he went straight to the elevator and punched the button for Abby’s lab. The odds were pretty good that Tony had gone straight to Abby afterwards.

Once the elevator closed, McGee turned towards Ducky with a solemn face, “It was bad, wasn’t it Ducky. What happened to Tony.”

“Yes, Timothy.”

“I have seen scars like that before. On those who have been tortured, beaten. Whatever Tony has been through must have been quite painful. I understand not wanting to talk about it.”

They both could tell the conversation was done. Ducky wasn’t going to tell them anything. Whatever happened to Tony for him to have those scars was obviously traumatic. They just hoped that one day Tony might feel comfortable enough, trust them enough, to tell them. And if not, that was okay. For now, they’d finish the investigation and make sure Tony knew they were there for him if he needed anything.


End file.
